Reclaiming Program Memory

[rookcnu]

I always seem to get really low on program memory on my Cingular 8125.

Are there steps I can take to free up program memory so I do not have to do a hard reset? What kind of things should I look for? I am assuming there are several.

Thanks for your help!

[Nurhisham Hussein]

How about a soft reset?

If you want something that clears memory without a reset, try SKTools (http://www.handango.com/ampp/store/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&jid=8BXD39FBE91BBDD236E979BE7C3F8254&platformId=2&productType=2&productId=124064&).

[Brad Adrian]

... and it helps to install as much of your additional software to a storage card as possible. About all I've got installed to internal memory of my 8125 are Pocket Plus and Calligrapher. Also, the next time you DO perform a hard reset, push the soft reset button right when you see the device starting to install the "Cingular applications." That will free a bit more memory otherwise taken up by branding junk you probably don't need.

Good luck!

[rookcnu]

Soft reset does not help. Could these be Temporary Internet files?

Something else?

This seems to happen every few months or so and I always do a hard reset. If there was a way to determine what is actually draining my program memory I would delete it periodically and not do hard resets.

Also,... Brad, you mention doing a soft reset immediately after the hard reset to try and free up memory from the "branding junk". I see a lot of things that are on my phone that I never use. For example - the templates in the video and pictures section. However, everytime I go to delete these types of things, it tells me that if I delete it, it could affect my system.

Last,... I try to install certain things to the storage card instead of main memory, but they don't always seem to function exactly as they should when on the card versus main memory.

I use the following:
Spb Mobile Shell
Spb Diary
Spb Insight
Spb Phone Suite
TCPMP
NoteM

Should I be able to install all of these to storage card and run as normal?

Thoughts?

[Nurhisham Hussein]

Soft reset does not help. Could these be Temporary Internet files?

Isn't the 8125 running WM5? Temp files (nor storage location for programs) should affect program memory (i.e. RAM). If it is ROM you're concerned about, then SKTools will do the trick, as would Dinarsoft's Memmaid.


I use the following:
Spb Mobile Shell
Spb Diary
Spb Insight
Spb Phone Suite
TCPMP
NoteM


Standalone stuff should work just fine off a storage card - Insight, TCPMP and NoteM fall in that category.

[rookcnu]

So,... Mobile Shell, Diary and Phone Suite all have to go on main memory?

[schmenge]

Unless install directions tell me that a program needs to go to main memory, I tend to install to the card. You will find some Today plugin programs (in particular) that won't like that and you may need to move them back to main memory. That said, when you refer to Program memory you mean what shows on the right hand side, correct?

http://sekelsky.com/SBSH/memory.jpeg

In general that is memory that is used by programs when they are running moreso that simply installed. A soft reset will reclaim this. If you are not seeing any difference I wonder if you really mean storage memory?

Assuming you DO mean program memory, look for anything that is in your Windows/Startup folder that is loading and you don't. Using a program like SK Tools you can look and see which programs are consuming program memory. I do not have any SPB products but I have heard they are good programs, but memory hungry. Try disabling some plugins, resetting and see what you get.

[rookcnu]

Woops :oops:

It is storage memory,... not program memory,... that I am having the problem with.

I am an idiot.

My apologies to those of you who wasted time trying to help me fix a problem that I do not have.

If any of you are willing to help me fix my REAL problem - storage memory - I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks to schmenge for giving me the visual so I could correct myself.

Again - sorry!

[Cybrid]

If any of you are willing to help me fix my REAL problem - storage memory - I would greatly appreciate it.
Again - sorry! Don't worry...The advice already given is the solution. They knew what you meant. :lol:

Carriers such as Cingular and in my case Telus, customize the devices using hidden cab files (cab's are installation files). It'll be randomly useless junk like a homepage or a today screen that advertises "value added services". If you hard reset, the phone is factory fresh and within 3 seconds a customization routine starts. A soft reset then stops that customization. This saves you quite a bit in storage memory...9-17Mb depending on carrier and device. (credit Brad). The templates, however are probably in ROM and you wouldn't be able to delete those.

After using Pocket Internet Explorer, clear the cache. While it should be doing that on its own...it doesn't always. I've seen as much as 25Mb tied up that way.

Other than those that have today screen components in use, install all to storage card. Nearly everything I've ever installed runs fine from storage.
The reason for not being able to do the same for today screen apps is that the storage card loads later than the today screen. If the today screen plug-in is not necessary...don't use it. Install the app to storage. (credit Schmenge)

SKtools is a set of utilities that will let you look for and delete misc memory hogs like the PIE cache I mentioned above and even stragglers from poorly uninstalled apps.. (credit Nurhisham)

[schmenge]

A picture is worth a 1000 words. :wink: To Cybrid's point, there are several good ideas already. I've not tried stopping customization, so I will have to give that a shot next time. Other thoughts:

I'll put in yet another plug for SK Tools. You can set SK to automatically (once per day/week/restart whatever) clear your cache, temp files etc. You can also use this to clear duplications in the notifications queue. Not only does this help keep reminders working, but the dupes can hog a lot of memory over time.

Go through your My Documents folder (stopping customization may avoid this) and look for any picture, movie files etc. that you can delete. Many get installed automatically.

Do you use voice tags? I use MS Voice Command so I do not. In you Windows directory there is a file where tags are stored (I can't recall the name, but a search should find this) that is 1/2 meg and I kill that.

Make sure that you are storing email attachments on your SD card.

Consider moving your PIE cache to the card, although if you keep the cache (and cookies) cleaned up this doesn't really matter too much from a memory standpoint.

pim.vol (stores all your PIM info and phone log) does grow over time. I have never found a way to reclaim that "lost" memory without a hard reset. Right now my pim.vol is about 1.4 megs (I reset about a month ago) and it always slowly creeps back up (to maybe 2 megs).